Tobyhanna Army Depot could lose $300M in funding cuts

Tobyhanna Army Depot could suffer more than $300 million in cuts — slashing its budget by more than one-third this year — if automatic spending reductions take hold in March.

A new report issued by the Army on the impact of across-the-board federal spending reductions under budget sequestration states that Tobyhanna would face $309 million in funding cuts through Sept. 30, as part of $500 billion to be sliced over 10 years from defense spending.

“That will happen by the end of the fiscal year,” said Dove Schwartz, an Army spokesman. “That’s not nine or 10 years down the road.” The cuts are rolled into $1.2 trillion in automatic reductions starting March 1 unless Congress acts to prevent it. The reductions are a consequence of budget talks that failed last year to address the country’s mounting debt.

Tobyhanna, one of the region’s largest employers with about 5,400 workers, is the military’s primary facility for the repair and maintenance of communications and electronics equipment.

The depot’s annual operating budget is about $905 million, so the automatic cut would represent a 34 percent reduction in its funding.

Normal operations continue at Tobyhanna, as the facility awaits instruction from the Pentagon, spokeswoman Jacqueline Boucher said. “They haven’t sent us any guidance or impact yet,” Boucher said. “It’s business as usual.”

Statewide, the report projects the sequester would cut Army spending by $1.1 billion by Oct. 1, the beginning of the next fiscal year. It would result in furloughs to 8,421 civilian employees of the Army in Pennsylvania, with a loss of $50 million in income.

The state’s other Army depot, Letterkenny, in Franklin County, would absorb spending reductions of $442 million, according to the report. The loss of 1,570 jobs would result because of decreased depot operations, the report states. It does not detail specific locations.

“This report further emphasizes the damaging impacts that the sequester could have on Northeastern Pennsylvania,” U.S. Sen. Bob Casey said. “Republicans and Democrats should come together to avoid the sequester and cut spending in a responsible way.”

U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-17, Moosic, whose district includes the depot, said he was investigating the impact and declined specifically to comment about the depot. “Republican leadership must call the House back in session so that Congress can get to work and stop the proposed, irresponsible, indiscriminate cuts,” he said.

The Army estimates the cuts will result in $15 billion in wage and spending reductions through September, with the most-severe employment impacts occurring in Texas, followed by Virginia, Alabama and Pennsylvania.